Teaching Socio-Environmental Synthesis with Case Studies

Applications are closed as of March 21, 2013.

Preparing our students to tackle the urgent and complex environmental problems we face is a critical challenge facing higher education. Problems such as global climate change, water resource management, and sustainable development are dynamic and complex problems that require transdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to solve. Socio-environmental synthesis is one such research approach that considers the integrated nature of the environment and human society, and combines insights, methods, and data from the natural and social sciences to produce knowledge and inform solutions. The National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) is dedicated to educating about this research approach and its broad relevance, and to teaching core concepts and competencies necessary to understand, research, and address complex socio-environmental problems.

SESYNC invites participants for a 3½-day short course on Teaching Socio-Environmental Synthesis with Case Studies. The course will be held July 23–26 at SESYNC in Annapolis, MD. The goals of the short course are to:

1. introduce participants to socio-environmental synthesis research,
2. train participants in the Case Study Method, a powerful and effective teaching approach, and
3. enable participants to write case studies related to socio-environmental synthesis that can be used in their classrooms and shared on the SESYNC website and/or the online collection of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science (NCCSTS).

We seek a diverse group of participants, including faculty, postdocs, and graduate students from both the social and natural sciences. Participants should have an interest in learning about and teaching socio-environmental synthesis and in writing a case study related to socio-environmental synthesis. We welcome applications from small teams (2–3 people) that will collaborate on writing a case study.

COSTS

Registration fees are $250 for faculty and $100 for graduate students and postdocs. All eligible travel expenses (e.g. flights, hotel, meals, and ground transport) will be reimbursed by SESYNC upon receipt of a completed socio-environmental synthesis case study that can be shared online.

AGENDA OVERVIEW

Download detailed agenda as PDF

Day 1 (July 23): Introduction to Socio-Environmental Synthesis (Dr. Bretton Alvare – Widener University, Dr. William Burnside, Dr. Judy Che-Castaldo, and Dr. Cynthia Wei – SESYNC)
Day 2 and 3 (July 24–25): The Case Study Method (Dr. Clyde F. Herreid – Director of the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science [NCCSTS])
Day 4 (July 26, AM only): Collaborative work on socio-environmental synthesis case studies